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Arpaio: 'Dirty' immigrant remark taken wrong

The judge hasn't ruled on the ultimate question of racial profiling, but said in a December ruling that a fact finder could interpret some of Arpaio's public statements as endorsements of racial profiling.

The lawsuit marks the first case in which the sheriff's office has been accused of systematic racial profiling and will serve as a precursor for a similar yet broader civil rights lawsuit filed against Arpaio in May by the U.S. Department of Justice.

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The plaintiffs say deputies conducting Arpaio's sweeps pulled over Hispanics without probable cause, making the stops only to inquire about the immigration status of the people in the vehicles.

The sheriff maintains that people are stopped only if authorities have probable cause to believe they have committed crimes and that deputies later find many of the people stopped are illegal immigrants.

Plaintiff's lawyers say Arpaio endorsed calls for racial profiling with the sweeps by passing along the ambiguous and racially charged complaint letters to aides who planned his immigration enforcement efforts and carried out at least three patrols after receiving the letters.

They also point out that Arpaio wrote thank-you notes to some who sent complaints.

Arpaio's attorneys denied that the letters and emails prompted the sheriff to launch the patrols with a discriminatory motive. His lawyers called the complaints racially insensitive and said aides to the sheriff — not Arpaio himself — decided where to conduct the patrols. They also said there was nothing wrong with the thank-you notes.

"He sends thank-you letters because he is an elected official," Tim Casey, the lawyer leading Arpaio's defense, said during opening arguments.

In an August 2008 letter, a woman wrote about a Sun City restaurant: "From the staff at the register to the staff back in the kitchen area, all I heard was Spanish — except when they haltingly spoke to a customer." The letter ended with a suggestion that the sheriff investigate.

Arpaio made a handwritten note in the margins saying, "letter thank you for info will look into it" and that the complaint should be sent to aide Brian Sands, who selects locations for sweeps, with a notation saying "for our operation." The sheriff's office launched a sweep two weeks later in Sun City.

Earlier in 2008, the sheriff received a letter from a man who complained that police in nearby Mesa hadn't approached day laborers to find out whether they were in the country legally. Plaintiff's lawyers say Arpaio made a notation in the margins about a thank-you note and marked it to draw Sands' attention.

Plaintiff's lawyers said Arpaio got another 2008 letter urging a sweep in Mesa and noting that the leader of the city's police union was Hispanic.

The lawyers said the sheriff wrote "I will be going into Mesa" and sent a copy of the complaint to Sands. Shortly thereafter, the sheriff's office launched a sweep in Mesa and noted in a news release that the sheriff was sending deputies to Mesa "in keeping with his promise to the public," the lawyers said.

The first thing any rookie cop learns is not to approach anybody without probable cause. To say that Arpaio ignores this is asinine. Selective enforcement in favor of illegals against US Citizens is the Obama-Napolitano policy. Nappy and Barack's, legal justification excuse, for lax enforcement, is that it's guided by proper allocation of resources. Arizonans are behind Arpaio with their money even if Napolitano can't come up with the money to do her job.

This court action is nothing but a Witch Hunt, that is aimed at anybody or state that dares to conflict with their Liberal-Marxist agenda. Arizona is flooded by people from South of the border, so it just is going to happen when they are raided by the police. Americans have to remember also that the ACLU was founded by a Communist and has been one of the principle invaders of our freedoms. Isn’t it time the politicians living the high life in Washington, do something for the American taxpayers? Isn’t it time we stopped being scammed by illegal aliens for over $100.000.000.000. Isn’t it time we enacted the ‘Legal Workforce Act and the Birthright citizenship Act? Isn’t it time that the state of Arizona gets to keep its money, instead of forced by unfunded mandates to pay for illegal aliens and their children? All those who genuflect to the 20 million plus illegal aliens will be under an attack themselves, when the TEA PARTY becomes an overall majority in the Republican Party. You know the Liberal-Democrats will desperately do anything to draw away from the terrible drowning economy policies of the Obama Administrations, such as going after Arizona or any other state that are trying to defend their legal population from the illegal alien welfare parasites.

I THINK IT’S HILARIOUS THAT THE LIBERAL STATE OF SANCTUARY CALIFORNIA ARE GOING TO BE BOMBARDED BY MILLIONS OF ILLEGAL ALIENS SCATTERING FROM MORE HARSH STATES ACROSS THE COUNTRY. GIVING OUT FREELY PUBLIC MONEY AND WELFARE TO ILLEGAL ALIENS IS JUST LIKE A GIANT MAGNET. IT WAS INEVITABLE THAT CITIES AS STOCKTON AND VERY LIKELY COMPTON, SAN BERNARDINO, FRESNO AND VALLEJO SO FAR? CITIES TRAUMATIZED BY THE ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION INVADERS, WHO ARE USING STOLEN SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBERS OF IDENTITY TO RIP OFF TAXPAYERS.

Both political party pro-illegal immigrant supporters will be seeing the exit to their seats as Senators and House Congressman in November or even earlier. You cannot even count how many TEA BAGGER’S there are now, as they are from every skin color, religion and party affiliate. These are the millions of Americans who have seen enough incompetence, greed and power. The TEA PARTY will clean Washington of all the lawmakers who do the bidding of campaign contributors, the special interest organization, radical ethnic groups, church, unions and a whole slew of entities. Better be very aware in any election as illegal aliens will be voting if Obama’s czarist get their way. I am a TEA PARTY person and I am sick of paying for people want don’t want to work collecting welfare and catering to anybody who can smuggle themselves through airports or access the border into this sovereign country. The U.S Attorney General Eric Holder is nothing but a heavy duty Socialist and he will be quickly removed from office. Under Obama we are becoming a nation of dependents, as with Europe—spending money we no longer have. Now the Obama miscreants are driving up the U.S. Treasury deficit, by offering illegal aliens food stamps.

IF YOU WANT TO FIND OUT WHO THE REAL CROOKS ARE IN CONGRESS, JUST GO TO THE JUDICIALWATCH DOT ORG SITE.